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Noria
on the Orontes River in Syria.]] A noria ( , nā‘ūra, from , nā‘urā) is a machine for lifting water into a small aqueduct, either for the purpose of irrigation or, in at least one known instance, to feed seawater into a saltern. Types There are three types of noria. The most common examples consist of a vertical wheel which is slung with a chain of buckets. The buckets hang down into a well which may be up to 8 m (26 ft) deep. The most primitive norias of this type are driven by donkeys, mules, or oxen. The animal turns another wheel, which is engaged with the noria and so causes it to turn. This causes the buckets to circulate. A second type of noria uses the same system, of a necklace of clay or wooden buckets, but it is driven by the wind. The wind driven norias in the vicinity of Cartagena, Spain, are virtually identical in appearance with the local grinding mills. The third type of noria uses the energy derived from the flow of a river. It consists of a large, very narrow undershot waterwheel whose rim is made up of a series of containers which lift water from the river to a very small aqueduct at the top of the wheel. Functions , Spain]] Unlike the water wheels found in mills, a noria does not provide mechanical power to any other process. Its concept is similar to the modern hydraulic ram, which also uses the power of flowing water to pump some of the water out of the river. A few norias were hybrids, consisting of an animal-driven waterwheel. A noria can raise water to somewhat less than its full height. The largest noria in the world, with a diameter of about 20 meters, is located in the Syrian city of Hama. It performs a similar function to the saqiya, and other pumps, that of moving water from a lower elevation to a higher elevation, but these are generally powered by other means, not by a waterwheel. History It has been suggested that the cakkavattaka mentioned in an Indian text of 350 BC was a noria, but others dispute this (see watermill).T. S. Reynolds, Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel (Johns Hopkins University Press 1983), 14-17. ISBN 0801872480. This device was most likely invented in the ancient Near East, where it was used since 200 BC.Donald Routledge Hill (1996), "Engineering", in Roshdi Rashed, Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3, p. 751-795 775. The undershot and overshot waterwheel, both animal and water-driven, and with either a compartmented body or a compartmented rim, were invented in Egypt between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. ; ; ; Around 300 AD, the wooden compartments were replaced with separate, attached ceramic pots that were tied to the outside of an open-framed wheel, thereby creating the noria. ; Islamic Agricultural Revolution Norias later became more widespread during the Islamic Agricultural Revolution and were in large-scale use in the medieval Islamic world, where Muslim inventors and engineers made a number of improvements to the noria.Thomas F. Glick (1977), "Noria Pots in Spain", Technology and Culture 18 (4), p. 644-650. For example, the flywheel mechanism used to smooth out the delivery of power from a driving device to a driven machine, was invented by Ibn Bassal (fl. 1038-1075) of Al-Andalus, who pioneered the use of the flywheel in the noria and chain pump (Sakia or saqiya).Ahmad Y Hassan, [http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes%204.htm Flywheel Effect for a Saqiya]. In 1206, Al-Jazari introduced the use of the crankshaft in a noria and saqiya, and the concept of minimizing intermittent working was implied for the purpose of maximising their efficiency.Donald Routledge Hill, "Engineering", in Roshdi Rashed (ed.), Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 2, pp. 751-795 776, Routledge, London and New York Muslim engineers used norias to discharge water into aqueducts which carried the water to towns and fields. Some of the norias used in the medieval Islamic world were as large as 20 meters in diameter, the one in Hama being a surviving example still used in modern times (although currently only serving aesthetical purposes). It has 120 water collection compartments and could raise more than 95 litres of water per minute. Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi's Kitab al-Hawi in the 10th century describes a noria in Iraq that could lift as much as 153,000 litres per hour, or 2550 litres per minute. This is comparable to the output of modern Norias in East Asia which can lift up to 288,000 litres per hour, or 4800 litres per minute. Song China During the period of agricultural expansion in Song China, the technology of norias was improved. For some centuries they had been used for moving water for drainage or irrigation purposes. The simplest design, such as the counterbalanced bucket or 'well-sweep' was found almost universally. A more complicated design, the 'square-pallet chain pump' was introduced several centuries before the growth in Song technology, but had not been used until then for farming. They became more common around the end of the first millennium AD. The contribution of norias to agricultural growth during the Song was extolled by poets such as Li Ch'u-ch'uan(李处权) of the twelfth century. The Song government actively spread the technology, introducing pumping equipment and norias to those areas as yet unfamiliar with the techniques. See also *Norias of Hama *Sakia *Scoop wheel References Further reading * * * * External links * [http://www.yachtmollymawk.com/2008/11/spanish-water-works/ Spanish norias in the Region of Murcia] * Photos of the norias of Hama in Syria Category:Research & Technology